Market Bag: Show Me How

Hi I'm Linda, Editorial Content Chief for American Patchwork & Quilting, in this Show me How Video brought to you by Baby Lock. We're going to show you how to make this little market bag. It's a very sturdy bag for taking to the farmers market or on a trip, great for holding books, whatever you need. So to get instructions for this go to AllPeopleQuilt.com/ShowMeHowMarket. And let's get started! So for the front and back of the bag body, you'll need a 15'' by 10'' piece of fabric, you'll need two of those and if your fabric is directional you'll need the 15 to be across and the 10 to be this way. Then you'll need two pieces for the base, those are 5.5'' by 15'' then for the lining you'll need two 15'' squares and then you'll also need 2- 15'' squares of lightweight fusible interfacing and you'll also need for the pocket from that same lining fabric you'll need two 6'' squares. For the handles, you're going to need 2- 4'' x 17'' strips of fabric, and because I want a little more support in my handles I also cut interfacing that same size and fuse that to the wrong side so I've got a little more support in those handles. So the first step is to sew that bag base, that 5 ? x 15'' piece to the bag body, again if that fabric is directional make sure it's going the right way, you're going to sew it along the bottom edge, with a quarter inch seam. So once you've got those two seams sewn on the front and on the back pieces, you're going to want to press that seam allowance toward the front fabric not to the bottom fabric and then fuse your fusible interfacing to the wrong side of both the front and the back piece so that you've got a nice stable bag. Next you're going to take your two 6'' pocket squares and sew them together right sides facing, quarter inch seam allowance and leave about a 3 inch opening on one edge for trimming. So now I've sewn all four sides leaving that 3 inch opening for turning, I'm going to clip the corners to eliminate some of the bulk making those corners a little bit easier to have a nice clean turn. And then I'm going to turn that pocket through the opening so that now that your pocket is ready you're going to have the opening on the bottom edge, you're going to top stitch along the three sides of the pocket and I've place it an inch and half up from your seam and then just equal the space from the sides, You're going to top stitch on the three sides and when you sew that top stitch on the bottom it'll close that opening so you don't have to hand stitch that first. So for the handles you're going to fold that 4'' x 17'' strip in half then you're going to fold in towards that half, so you're going to want to get that crease there just to get a mark as to where you need to fold in, you're going to end up making a 1'' wide 4 layers thick by 17'' piece for the straps, now remember I also added interfacing to these handles, but you wouldn't have to do that. Then you're going to top stitch along this open edge and along the folded edge, just to make it look symmetrical. So I measured 3 inches from the left side of the bag and positioned the first end of my handle at that point then I put the other end of that same handle 3 ? inches from the right side of the bag front, I'm pinning those in place and then I'm basting them in place. I want to baste inside that quarter inch seam allowance so that the basting doesn't show when I sew the seam at a quarter inch seam later. So now with the handles inside, you're going to sew the front and back side together, with right sides facing and sew the side seams and the bottom seam. ?To box the corner of a bag you're going to line up your side seam and your bottom seam and pin those so that those seams are aligned, Next you're going to use a ruler with a 45 degree mark on it, in this case I'm going to make a line 1 ? inches down and you'll see I've lined that 45 degree mark up at the side fold here and I'm just going to mark across so we're marking an inch and half up from the corner and it's going to be a three inch line that I've marked. Then I'm going to sew on that line and trim off the excess right here and that's all there is to it. So for the lining you're going to take those 2- 15'' squares sew the side seam and part of the way across the bottom, leaving about a 3 inch opening for turning in the bottom then finish up the bottom and up the other side, then you're going to box the corners in the same way as you did for the bag. So I've turned the bag right side out, I have not turned the lining inside out I'm just going to put that whole bag right inside the lining, line up those side seams, put the handles inside in between those layers, and pin all the way around and then sew all the way around. So if your machine has a free arm that you'd use for cuffs, this is a great time to use it, basically you're going to slip the whole bag right onto that free arm and then sew all along that top edge, So then we're going to reach into the opening at the bottom of the lining and just wiggle the bag out and the lining inside. Now, you'll stitch that bottom opening closed, either stitch by hand or stitch by machine then tuck the lining inside the bag, give that top edge a good pressing so that the lining stays inside the bag and then top stitch top stitch along this top edge, just to keep that lining in place. So now that the top is top stitched you're ready to go. I love this bag, it's got so many uses and that pocket on the side is really going to come in handy! Again if you need the instructions go to AllPeopleQuilt.com/ShowMeHowMarket.